Our Beers

A great pale ale is a thing of beauty, and we are constantly striving for that elusive perfect pale. These three will be the constants at Burning Sky but won't stand still if they can evolve into better beers! Our pales need to be drunk fresh to best appreciate the punchy hop flavours.

Plateau

Pale gold in colour, with a crisp malt edge and sharp bitterness. Plateau has been hopped at different stages of the brew, with a big mix of US & NZ hops to satisfy the discerning drinker.

Full in flavour, zesty, refreshing & low in alcohol, this beer will have you returning to the bar for another.

3.5 % ABV.Availability: Year round. Cask only

Aurora

Our premium strength pale ale ‘Aurora’ has a satisfying blend of malts to provide a juicy backbone and a pale amber colour.

An expansive blend of US hops give a resinous mouthfeel – big citrus & tropical fruit flavours, which are prominent, yet well balanced.

5.6% ABV.Availability: Year round. Cask & Keg

Devil's Rest

Good luck in finding this place – a small nook in the South Downs behind the brewery. Our full strength IPA nods to the best I found whilst travelling the US.

The result is deceptively drinkable, with a burnt orange colour and full flavour in the mouth. Huge amounts of Simcoe & Centennial hops find their way into the kettle, with even more sneaking in post fermentation for a ‘proper’ IPA flavour.

7% ABV.Availability: When we get a chance. Cask, Keg & bottle (sometimes...)

Arise

Straw gold in colour, a balanced malt bill gives a great mouth feel and a finish that keeps on giving. Restrained bitterness followed by massive peach, pine & resinous hop flavours to keep you satisfied. A session IPA that's perfect for the end of the day (or the start).

4.4% ABV.Availability: Year Round. Keg only

Easy Answers

Luscious clean drinking IPA with good body and subdued bitterness. Topped off with bags of piney aroma hops and a double dry hop, easy answers will come easy

6.0% ABV.Availability: Year Round. Keg only

Our saisons are brewed with more than a passing nod to the Wallonian traditions. We have a "tavern strength" beer that is aged in oak for 3 months, then a seasonal range at "workers strength". These reflect the seasons in our immediate countryside, using foraged local ingredients - a practice that was common historically in the old farmhouse breweries.

Saison L'Automne

This workers strength Saison is our seasonal beer. The base recipe will remain the same and will uses the same strains of yeast as our ‘Provision’ Saison but changes to reflect the seasons in the inspirational countryside that surrounds Burning Sky Brewery.

The Autumn hedgerows have been laden with rosehips this year & we have blended a large portion in to give a subtle perfume & enticing colour to the beer.

4.2% ABV.Availability: Seasonal. Keg

Saison L'Hiver

The same base recipe as the L’Automne but has been infused with Hawthorne leaves and berries. The result is subtle but distinct, if there is such a flavour as ‘barren’, it is here – in a good wintery way.

Saison à la Provision

Originally, the farmhouse brewers of Wallonia would produce a weak Saison beer for the workers and a stronger beer to be aged & sometimes blended – destined for the local taverns.

This beer has a primary fermentation with a Saison yeast, then undergoes a secondary fermentation with a blend of Lactobacillus & Brettanomyces. The result is tart, crisp, slightly sour & incredibly refreshing.

6.5% ABV.Availability: Year round. Keg and bottle.

Saison L'éte

Saison L'été was brewed with fresh eldeflowers, picked from the hedgerows around the brewery. After fermentation, it was aged on whole gooseberries. Which combined with our blend of saison and wild yeast strains gives a tart, thirst quenching taste - perfect for the summer.

4.2% ABV.Availability: Seasonal. Keg

Watch this space - what's in the wood will end up here!

Wild Gift Apricot

Pale Ale fermented with two strains of brettonamyces and lactobacillus, with a secondary fermentation on apricots. Tart, Fruity, Funky and super refreshing.

4.2% ABV.Availability: Occasional. Keg only.

Cuvée

Choosing our best Saison à la Provision from Foudre no. 1 and from a number of Chardonnay barriques, we then blended in a large portion of Lambic, imported from Belgium that has been aging at Burning Sky.

6.5% ABV.Availability: Occasional 750ml Champagne Bottle

Cuvée Reserve

Cuvée Reserve is a blend of our Saison á la Provision from foundre no.1 and Chardonnay barriques with a large portion of lambic from Girardin. This special release was then aged a further year in oak barrels on lambic lees.

6.5% ABV.Availability: Occasional 750ml Champagne Bottle

Saison Anniversaire

Saison Anniversaire is a celebration of everything we at Burning Sky love about saisons. Lightly spiced in the boil, this special edition beer was fermented and aged entirely in French Chardonnay barriques using our house saison and a blend of wild yeast strains.

6.2% ABV.Availability: Occasional 750ml Champagne Bottle

Philosophy

Burning Sky Brewery was conceived and set up by Mark as a long term project and my last brewery build (hopefully). Tom was onboard from an early stage, helping with trial brews. Paula joined when we had some beer to sell & does the sensible stuff.

Here, nestled at the base of the South Downs in an old Sussex Barn that has been refurbished to a high standard, we can let our imaginations run wild. The landscape and provenance of our location was a major factor in the brewery’s set up.

The crux of the brewery is to brew the beers that excite us, without compromise in terms of ingredient costs and time – that all too often overlooked ingredient in beer. Whether it’s a fresh hoppy pale, or a oak aged beer – they are all considered and cared for beers that we want to drink.

We have started work on an extensive ageing program – not tempted by short cuts, we are far more interested in tradition and the slow-working yeasts that bring complexities and depths of flavour to the beers. It is not envisaged that the full extent of Burning Sky will be apparent for another 2 or 3 years, when these slow beers are ready and we can fully embark on our blending schedule.

Currently we have the ability to be ageing up to 14,500 litres of beer in a mixture of 225 litre oak barriques & 2500 litre oak foudres. The character of each barrel and beer will develop over time leading us on an exciting journey, where the beer guides us and we work with it, learning from it.

News

Today we are brewing Saison Printemps – a new recipe to last year. In a break from our foraged ingredients, this year we are brewing a beer to evoke the feeling of Spring. A time when the dormant plants come … Continued

Ok, so our website is out of date, really, really out of date. Does that mean we haven’t done anything, no quite the opposite, we have been pretty busy and twitter makes you think you can keep the world informed … Continued

Last week, we gave our production over to brewing a Flanders style red ale. This is a style rarely brewed over here, as to brew something with any degree of complexity, it needs to be aged in wood for a … Continued

Lots has been going on since the last blog post & as you can see, we have finally got ourselves together to get a proper website up. Here you can check out what is quietly going on in the barn … Continued